Conveyer



Aug. 26, 1930. L 1,773,881

' CONVEYER Filed June 22, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 .I': ran.- E

IN V ENTOR.

Aug. 26, 1930.

Filed Ju e 22, 1928 E. L. SMALLEY CONVEYER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 WW1 .i

liV/////// INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Aug. 126, 1 930. E. SMALLEY 1,773,331

' CONVEYER Filed Jun e 22, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Ti J i F zz-J 5INVENTOR.

BY I

. 6. ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 26,1930 i UNITEDIFSFTA TEs PATENT lorriesrinwm rifsmarmy, or mtwanknn, wisoonsm, Assam r0 jH vI DUTY ELECTRICcoun r or MILWAUKEE, Wiscons n, A conrormrron or WISCONSIN 1 convnrnn IApplication filed June 22,

My invention relates broadly to conveyers, and more particularly to aprogressive rollertype of conveyer for loading and unloadingfurnaces.

One of the objects ofmyinventionis to provide a construction ofprogressive roller conveyer wherein minimum force is required toinitiate movement of aload and substan-- tially less force required tomaintain the load. in motion inthe process of loading or unload ingafurnace. I

. Anothe'robject'of my invention is toprovide a construction of conveyerin which the friction of the moving parts is substantially j rollinginstead of sliding in character, except for a brakin action whichincreases only slightly the orce required to both initiate and continuethe movement of the load on the conveyer.

Still another object of my invention isto provide a constructionofconveyer including a plurality of horizontally disposed rollers mountedin cages connected in trains with a shelfmernber movable with therollers and carrying a loadwhich may be advanced or retracted withrespect to the entrance of'the furnace for loading the furnace.

'A further object of my invention is to proprovide a construction ofprogressive roller. conveyer where, a plurality of rollers are mountedin different cages on a manner whereby each roller moved in elongatedapertures in the cagesto enable the friction betweenthe roller and themountings thereof to be substantially in the nature of rollinfrictioninstead Of sliding friction,--there by lessening wear on themoving parts, and because of the direct compression on the rollingmember ermit an increase of distance betweencem ters of the rollers inany selected train of rollers thereby reducing the quantityofnonoxidizing metal required for mounting the rollers. I

A still further object of my invention is to;

provide a construction of progressive roller conveyerwherein a pluralityof rollers are mounted in cages connected successivelyone to the other,each cage including longitudinal- 1y extending bar members which'may.slide in contwt with the extremities of upwardly 1928. Serial No;287,486.

protruding lugs on; each side of a guiding track member for providingthe required braking effect on the rollers when the charge supported bya tray carried by the'rollers leaves the last of the rollers located incontact a;

inFig. 3; Fig. is a cross-sectional View 7" taken through the cagedrollers'ofFigs. 3 and 4;. Fig. 6 is a cross'sectional view taken throughone of therollers in the progressive rollers of Figs. 3,4 and 5 taken online 6-6 of Fig. 3; Figs. 7 and 8 show schematic diagrams ofsuccessivepositions of a movable tray from'a loaded position in the furnacechamber to successive positions to unloading position as in Fi 8 whenthe progressive rollers are caged by sixes; Fig. 9 shows the resultingpositions of the progressive rollers when therollers are linked inpairs; Figs. 10 11 and 12 show progressive roller systems where therollers are caged by threes and where the charge is supported on twotrays. and F igs.- 13, 14c, 15' and 16 show a system of progressiverollers caged by pairs and supporting three separate trays thereon.

v Referring to the drawings in detail a boxlike furnacev has been shownhaving walls 19 including furnace chamber 20 having facing brick or doorjambs 21 forming an opening to the furnace chamber which may be closedby a suitable drop door. The tray for carrying the load which-is: movedinto the furnace is shown at 23 in a position within the furnace chamber20. The tray 23 has an upstanding peripheral edge having downwardlydepending lugs 51, whichserve to guide the tray in its movement over theroller members. The roller members are numbered 1 through 18, and, asshown in Fig. 1, rollers 1 to 6 are coupled together, while rollers 7 to12, inclusive, and rollers 13 to 18 are coupled together. The couplingis accomplished by means of yokes 28 in the form of horizontallyextending bar members having inwardly directed abutting portions 43secured together by means of rivets 42. "The bar members provide meansfor journaling the trunnions 29 of each of the by which the furnace ischarged or dis charged has been represented at 24. On this conveyer thelongitudinally extending channel members 25 are firmly anchored inposition by means of downwardly depending projections 52. In this mannerthe rollers are free to enter the track formed by the upstanding lugs 26and the yoke members 28 are f1 ee to frictionally slide upon the upperextremities of the lugs 26. Each yoke 28 contains a selected number ofrollers. The ends of the yokes are secured together by suitable meanssuch as rivets 41 forming a closed cage for the rollers. These cages maybe linked together as by means of coupling members 31 which engage theabutting terminals 40 of the members 28. The elongations in theapertures 30 serve to ermit a sliding movement of the yoke memhers 28. Abraking effect is produced by the sliding movement of yoke members 28upon lugs 26 and this tends to retard the movement of the rollers 27when the charge on tray 23 reaches the last of the rollers in contactwith the tray.

The last arrangement referred to is a preferred construction: but ifapertures 30 are made round instead of elongated in cages 28, then cages28 will be suspended on trunnions 29, provided guide flanges or lugs 26are made of such a height as will be out of contact with yokes 28. Asimilar braking effect thereby results by the sliding friction betweentrunnions 29 and yokes 28, because the same braking Weight results. Lugs26 may be made continuous upstanding flanges of considerable length. butshort lugs are preferred on account of lessened possibility of warpagedue to heat action to which the channel members 25 and lugs 26 may besubjected.

In Figs. 7 to 16 various combinations of cages for the tray whichcarries the load with respect to the furnace chamber have been shown. InFig. 7 the rollers are caged in sixes and the tray is shown at 23 aboutto enter the furnace structure. In Fig. 8 the loading shelf has beenshown removed from the entrance of the furnace structure where the tray23 is being carried away from the furnace chamber or advanced toward thefurnace chamber.

In Fig. 9 I have shown the rollers caged in pairs with the conveyerloading shelf moved irectly against the entrance to the furnace chamberwhere the tray 2-5 can be either moved into the furnace chamber over theseveral pairs of rollers or carried away from the furnace chamber on themovable conveyer shelf.

In Fig. 10 I have shown the rollers connected in threes with trays 32and 33 sup ported wholly within the furnace chamber. In Fig. 11, I haveillustrated the convenient manner in which tray may be moved to aposition 32 outside of the furnace structure, while tray 33 remainsinside the furnace chamber.

In Fig. 12 I have shown the tray 33 of Fig. 11 removed to a positionoutside of the furnace chamber as indicated at 33*. In Fig. 13 therollers are grouped in pairs and the tray is divided into three parts asshown at 36, 37 and 38. Any portion of the system of trays may beren'loved individually, as illus trated in Figs. 14, 15 and 16. that is,tray 36 may be moved to a position 36 outside of the furnace structure,as shown in Fig. 14;, and tray 37 may be removed to a position 37 asillustrated in Fig. 15, while tray 38 may be moved to a position outsidethe furnace chamber. as shown. at 38 in Fig. 16.

While in the drawings I have shown the method of loading or unloading amoving shelf as adapted to a single end or box type furnace, I desirethat it be understood that the rollers are adaptable to a tunnel typefurnace where the rollers may always travel in the same direction whilein the furnace.

The conveyor system of my invention is adaptable to the socalledreciprocative or counterfiow furnaces. In these tunnel or counterfiowfurnaces the rollers which leave the furnace chamber with the charge canbe readily transferred. outside the furnace to the entering end.

Heretofore in the conveyer art, such as the conveyer illustrated in theFred A. Hanson application, Serial No. 263, i99, filed March 21, 1928,rollers have been mounted in U- shaped bearings. In this construction ofconveyer there are rollers having a diameter of 3 inches and a trunniondiameter of one inch. The load arm is equal to the radius of thetrunnion, or one-half inch. The power arm is equal to one-half thediameter of the roller, or 1% inches. This gives a ratio between thepower arm and the load arm of 7 to 2. By my invention I providetraveling rollers where the power arm is equal to the diameter of theroller, and that power is applied to overcome rolling friction comparedto the sliding friction of the trunnion.

On account of the small force required to move a charge on the rollers,as hereinafter proved, a charge to be placed in or withdrawn from thefurnace as on trays 23 may be operated manually. For charges in excessof those which may be manually handled easily, a pusher mechanismfamiliar to those versed in the art, may be employed.

with a 600 pound load and the type of U-shaped bearing conveyor asillustrated in the aforesaid application, I have found that it requiresfrom 110 to 125 pounds to start movement of the load, and furthermore itrequires 110 pounds to keep the load in moion. In the conveyer of myinvention and with the 600 pound load, I have found that to start themovement of the load it has only been necessary to expend 12 to 16pounds to start motion and 8 pounds of effort to keep the load inmotion. quired braking as the load reaches the last of the rollers isobtained by virtue of the c01nbined sliding and rolling friction.

The conveyer of my invention has been found to be extremely practical inits construction, and while I have described specific embodiments of theinvention, I desire that it be understood that modifications may be madeby those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of myinvention. The yoke members need have no holes for trunnions and therollers need have no trunnions, for the rollers may be lodged in spacedopenings of the yokes so that the yokes prevent any tilting action ofthe rollers. A. similar braking effect will still maintain because theyoke members in this case will slide along the lugs of the channelmembers. Furthermore, an additional. braking action will be effected forthe tread of the rollers will at some time engage the transverseportions of the yokes. Further modifications of the conveyor structuremay be made and no limitations upon my invention are intended other thanare imposed by the scope of the appended claims. I

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is as follows:

1. In a conveyer system a pair of channel members, rows of successivelugs formed on each side of said channel members, a plurality of rollerspositioned within said channel members for supporting a charge, aplurality of yoked frames coupled end to end, each of said yoked framescarrying a selected numher of said rollers, said yoke frames beingslidable along the top surfaces of said lugs.

2. In a conveyor a plurality of channel At the same time the repmembers, each of said channel members having rows of upstanding guidinglugs on opposite sides thereof, a plurality of yoke members slidablealong the upper surfaces of said guiding lugs, a plurality of rollersjournaled in said yoke members for supporting a charge, each of saidrollers being capable of independent vertical movement with respect toyoke members, and means coupling said yoke members end to end.

3. a conveyor a plurality of channel members, each of said channelmembers havrows of upstanding guiding lugs on opposite sides thereof, aplurality of yoke members slidable along the upper surfaces of saidguiding lugs, aplurality of rollers journaled in said yoke members, forsupporting a charge, each of said rollers being capable of independentvertical movement with respect to said yoke members, means coupling saidy he members end to end, and a tray movable over the upper surfaces ofsaid rollers.

d. In a progressive roller conveyer a plurality of channel-like membershaving rows of upstanding lugs at opposite sides thereof, rollersmovable within said channel-like members for supporting a charge, aplurality of frame members embracing opposite sides of said rollers andsupporting said rollers in bearings, said frame men'ibers being slidablealong the upper surfaces of said lugs, and means coupling the ends ofadjacent frame members for simultaneous movement along the uppersurfaces of said lugs.

5. In a progressive roller conveyor a plurality of channel-like members,each having a plurality of rows of upstanding vertical lugs spaced onewith respect to the other, frame-like members constituted by alongitudinally extending bar members, rollers journaled between saidlongitudinally extending bar members for supporting a charge, andmovable along said channel-like members in a path confined between saidupstanding lugs, each of said rollers being capable of independentvertical movement with respect said frame-like members for permittingfrictional sliding engagement between said lugs in the course ofmovement of said rollers along said channel-like members.

6. In conveyor of the progressive roller type a plurality ofchannel-like members each having parallel extending rows of upstandinglugs separated one from the other, framelike members having a pair ofside bars spaced apart for a distance corresponding to the spacing ofsaid lug members, rollers jour-' naled between said side bars andshiftable vertically with respect thereto for supporting a charge, saidrollers supporting said side bars in frictional engagement with theupper surfaces of said upstanding lugs, and a tray shiftable over theupper surfaces of said rollers.

7 In a progressive roller conveyor a pair of channel-like members, rowsof upstanding lugs positioned along opposite sides of said channel-likemembers, rollers movable in a path between said upstanding lugs,framelike members for supporting said rollers in spaced relationship inindividual cages, said frame-like members being slidable over the uppersurfaces of said upstanding lugs, and a tray having downwardly dependingmembers thereon embracing opposite sides of said rollers for guidingsaid tray along the path of said rollers.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

EDWIN L. SMALLE Y.

